Stoke City haven't had the best of times playing against Tottenham Hotspur recently. They've lost the last two encounters against Mauricio Pochettino's outfit by four goals to nil, both at home, and now must travel to White Hart Lane at the weekend.

Mark Hughes' side are enjoying a pretty good season overall, currently in the top half of the table ahead of teams like West Ham United and Southampton. That last match against Spurs was a rare heavy defeat though and Sunday's game presents another tough challenge.

Defeats are one thing but when you're on the receiving end of a 4-0 it can have an impact that carries into the next game, unsettling and demoralising a side that could spark an extended slump in form. The last one against Spurs is a case in point, Stoke failed to win for over a month after that one.

What does Hughes need to do to avoid a heavy defeat? Can he stop Spurs rolling them over again?

Here are FOUR measures the Stoke boss must take to avoid another drubbing...

Drop Joe Allen deeper into the midfield

Britain Football Soccer - Stoke City v Sunderland - Premier League - bet365 Stadium - 15/10/16
Stoke City's Joe Allen in action with Sunderland's Didier Ndong 
Reuters / Anthony Devlin
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Often playing in an attacking midfield role this season, Joe Allen is enjoying his career highest ever return of goals in the top-flight for Stoke. A summer signing from Liverpool, it appears to have been money well spent by compatriot Mark Hughes.

However, against Spurs, Hughes must forgo Allen's attacking prowess and deploy him in a deeper role in central midfield, either slap bang in the middle of the park or even has a defensive midfielder. Allen has the attributes for that role too and it'll be needed given the way Spurs can dominate an opposition midfield.

Allen has the passing ability to pick players out in advanced positions from deep so if he plays well it shouldn't hamper their attacking ambition too much.

Sit someone on Dele Alli

Mark Hughes needs someone following Dele Alli at all times, most likely Glenn Whelan. The Republic of Ireland international's role as a spoiler will be vital and could even allow a covering teammate to double up on the man who likes to punish Stoke so much.

He's been the key to these recent 4-0 victories over the Potters, scoring 3 times across the two matches. Given he looked back at his best against Fulham last weekend then countering his threat is going to be absolutely vital in keeping the score down at White Hart Lane. If Stoke can keep him quiet then it takes a massive part of Spurs' ability to score away from their arsenal.

Restrict Marko Arnautovic's freedom

Marko Arnautovic is at his best when he's given a freewheeling, swashbuckling role on the wing for Stoke but Mark Hughes must consider curtailing that style of play and instilling a more disciplined mindset is going to be key in protecting Stoke's full-backs from the Tottenham onslaught.

As we know, Spurs like to attacking from the wide areas and get the likes of Kyle Walker in support of their more creative attacking players. That means that Stoke's wide men will have to do a lot of tracking back or Mark Hughes risks his defenders being isolated and ultimately blown away by Pochettino's side.

Play more direct into Peter Crouch

All these efforts aimed at curtailing Spurs and reacting to how they play will leave Peter Crouch more isolated than he's used to in a Stoke shirt. Mark Hughes has gone a long way to transform the assumptions about the Potters, that they're just a team full of physical guys who can't play football, but on Sunday his side will need to invoke some of that Tony Pulis spirit in order to stop Spurs.

Playing a more direct game with Crouch as the target man is going to be absolutely crucial. If they can perform their defensive duties correctly then they could have a chance of holding Tottenham and on the counter or with a long ball up to Crouch, they also have a chance of nicking something at the other end.